Researchers at MIT have created a new system for doing real-time mapping of buildings. This by itself is a neat idea, but gets cooler when you factor in that it’s attached to a wearable sensor package. Also, it’s using a Microsoft Kinect. What more do you want from science?

The prototype system, which will be fully detailed in an upcoming paper, is being envisioned as a way for first responders to get a better idea what awaits them inside a building during disaster response. It could eventually be mounted on a small robot, but for now researchers are just strapping it to a trusty grad student. Although, this does have mobility advantages.

The design of the device should make any geek giggle with delight. The bottom of the device is a highly-accurate laser rangefinder which sweeps a 270-degree arc in front of the sensor package. The top half of the device is built around a stripped down Kinect that is used to take images of the surroundings that are associated with the location data from the rangefinder. Accelerometers are also used to compensate for any bouncing or tilting that a human wearer might do. The upshot is that humans are usually better at navigating staircases.

Using the myriad of sensor data, the system can determine when it has arrived on a new floor so it doesn’t overlay a new map on the old one. The only control the operator needs to worry about is a button that marks a point of interest for rescuers. The researche team hope to add the ability for annotations to be added to these places in the map. It’s pretty awesome technology.